68& BAN K« 
filver bullion. This credit is generally about 5 per cent, 
below the mint price of fuch bullion. The bank grants 
at the fame time what is called a recipe or receipt, entitling 
the perfon who makes the depolit, or the bearer, to take 
out the bullion again at any time within fix months, upon 
re-transferring to the bank a quantity of bank-money equal 
to that for which credit had been given in its books when 
the depofit was made, and upon paying \ percent, for the 
keeping if the depofit was in iilver, and £ per cent, if it 
was in gold ; but at the fame time declaring, that in de¬ 
fault of fuch payment, and upon the expiration of this 
term, the depofit fhould belong to the bank at the price at 
vvfiich it had been received, or for which credit had been 
given in the transfer books. What is thus paid for the 
keeping of the depofit may be conlidered as a fort of ware- 
houferent; and why this warehoufe rent fhould be fo 
much dearer for gold than for filver, feveral different rea- 
fons have been alligned. The finenefs of gold, it has been 
faid, is more difficult to be afcertained than that of filver. 
Frauds are more eafily praftifed, and occafion a greater 
lofs in the more precious metal. Silver, befides, being 
the flandard metal, the date, it has been faid, wiflies to 
encourage more the making depolits of filver than of gold. 
Depofits of bullion are mod commonly made when the 
price is fomewhat lower than ordinary; and they are ta¬ 
ken out again when it happens to rife. In Holland the 
market price of bullion is generally above the mint price, 
for the fame reafon it was fo in England before the late 
reformation of the gold coin. The difference is faid to be 
commonly from about fix to fixteen divers upon the mark, 
or eight ounces of filver of eleven parts fine and one part 
alloy. The bank price, or the credit which the bank gives 
for depofits of fuch filver (when made in foreign coin of 
which the finenefs is well known and afcertained, fuch as 
Mexico dollars), is twenty-two guilders the mark; the 
mint price is about twenty-three guilders; and the mar¬ 
ket price is from twenty-three guilders fix, to twenty-three 
guilders fixteen, divers, or from 2 to 3 percent, above the 
mint price. The proportions between the bank price, the 
mint price, and the market price, of gold bullion are 
nearly the fame. A perfon can generally fell his receipt 
for the difference between the mint price of bullion and 
the market price. A receipt for bullion is almod always 
worth, fomething; and it very feldom happens, therefore, 
that any body differs his receipt to expire, or allows his 
bullion to fall to the bank at the price at which it had 
been received, either by not taking it out before the end 
of the fix months, or by neglecting to pay the | or £ per 
cent, in order to obtain a new receipt for another fix 
months. This, however, though it feldom happens, is 
faid to happen fometimes, and more frequently with re¬ 
gard to gold than with regard to filver, on account of the 
higher warehoufe rent which is paid for the keeping of the 
former. The perfon who by making a depofit of bullion 
obtains both a bank credit and a receipt, pays his bills of 
exchange as they become due with his bank credit; and 
either fells of keens his receipt, according as he judges 
that the price of bullion is likely to rife or fall. The re¬ 
ceipt and the bank credit feldom keep long together, and 
there is no occafion that they fhould. The perfon who 
has a receipt, and who wants to take out bullion, finds al¬ 
ways plenty of bank credits, or bank money, to buy at 
the ordinary price; and the perfon wdio has bank money, 
and wants to take out bullion, finds receipts always in 
equal abundance. 
The owners of bank credits and the holders of receipts 
conftitute two different forts of creditors againft the bank. 
The holder of a receipt cannot draw out the bullion for 
which it is granted, without re-afligning to the bank a 
fum of bank money equal to the price at which the bul¬ 
lion had been received, if he has no bank money of his 
own, he muff purchafe it of thole who have it. The 
owner of bank money cannot draw out bullion without 
producing to the bank receipts for the quantity which he 
wants. If he had none of his own, he muff buy them. 
3 
The holder of a receipt, when he purchafes bank money, 
purchafes the power of taking out a quantity of bullion, 
of which the mint price is5 percent, above the bank price. 
The agio of 5 per cent, therefore, which he commonly 
pays for it, is paid, not for an imaginary, but for a real, 
value. The owner of bank money, when he purchafes a 
receipt, purchafes the power of taking out a quantity of 
bullion, of which the market price is commonly from 2 to- 
3 per cent, above the mint price. The price which he 
pays for it, therefore, is paid likewife for a real value. The 
price of the receipt, and the price of the bank money, com¬ 
pound or make up between them the full value or price 
of the bullion. 
Upon depofits of the coin current in the country, the 
bank grants receipts likewife as well as bank credits; but 
thofe receipts are frequently of no value, and will bring 
no price in the market. Upon ducatoons, for example, 
which in the currency pafs for three guilders three ftivers 
each, the bank gives a credit of three guilders only, or 
5 per cent, below their current value. It grants a receipt 
likewife entitling the bearer to take out the number of du¬ 
catoons depofited at any time wjthin fix months, upon pay- 
x per cent, for the keeping. This receipt will frequently 
bring no price in the market. Three guilders bank mo¬ 
ney generally fell in the market for three guilders three 
ffivers, the full value of the ducatoons if they were taken 
out of the bank ; and, before they can be taken out, | per 
cent, muff be paid for the keeping, which would be mere 
lofs to the holder of the receipt. If the agio of the bank, 
however, fhould at any time fall to 3 per cent, fuch re¬ 
ceipts might bring fome price in the market, and might 
fell for i| per cent. But the agio of the bank being now 
generally about 5 per cent, fuch receipts are frequently 
allowed to expire, or, as they exprefs it, to fall to the 
bank. The 5 per cent, which the bank gains, when de¬ 
pofits either of coin or bullion are allowed to fall to it, 
may be conlidered as the warehoufe rent for the perpetual 
keeping of' fuch depofits. 
The fum of bank money for which the receipts are ex¬ 
pired muff be very confiderable. It muff comprehend the 
whole original capital of the bank, which, it is generally 
fuppofed, has been allowed to remain there from the time 
it was firft depofited, nobody caring either to renew his re¬ 
ceipt or to take out his depofit, as, for the reafons already 
affigned, neither the one nor the other could be done with¬ 
out lofs. But, whatever may be the amount of this fum, 
the proportion which it bears to the whole mafs of bank 
money is fuppofed to be very fmall. The bank of Am. 
fferdam has for many years paft been the great warehoufe 
of Europe for bullion, for which the receipts are very fel¬ 
dom allowed to expire, or, as they exprefs it, to fall to the 
bank. The far greater part of the bank money, or of the 
credits upon the books of the bank, is fuppoled to have 
been created, for thefe many years paft, by luch depofits 
as the dealers in bullion are continually both making and 
withdrawing. 
No demand can be made upon the bank but by means 
of a recipe or receipt. The fmaller mafs of bank money, 
for which the receipts are expired, is mixed and confound¬ 
ed with the much greater mafs for which they are ftill in 
force ; fo that, though there may be a confiderable fum of 
bank money for which there are no receipts, there is no 
fpecific fum or portion of it which may not at any time 
be demanded by one. The bank cannot be debtor to two 
perfons for the fame thing; and the owner of bank mo¬ 
ney who has no receipt cannot demand payment of the 
bank till he buys one. I11 ordinary and quiet times, he can 
find no difficulty in getting one to buy at the market price, 
which generally correfponds wi>h the price he can get for 
the coin or bullion it entitles him to take out of the bank. 
It might be othervvife during a public calamity; an inva- 
fion, for example, fuch as that of the French in 1672. 
The owners of bank money being then all eager to draw 
it out of the bank, in order to have it in their owm keep¬ 
ing, the demand for receipts might raife their price to an 
exorbitant 
